Thursday, March 10, 2011

Some Facts Before Grand-Standing

This piece presents the realities of Muslim-Americans and terrorism.  Nice to have it presented just as Peter King tries to alienate those who have been helping the US fight terrorism.  The article is quite clear--there really has not been that much terrorism in the US, attempted or successful, by "home grown" Muslims, that it is much less than hate crimes, and that Muslim-American communities have been largely helpful in tipping off the authorities to terrorists in their midst. 

Given the size of the US population, the number of potential targets, and the policies that would antagonize people (Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, Iraq, etc), the US has been more than lucky in terms of how little terrorism it has suffered since 9/11.  Is it due to the hyper-competence of the FBI, CIA and Homeland Security?  Given past performance, something else must be going on.  While terrorists do not need as deep a sea in which to swim as insurgents, they still need some local support, or at least not a hostile environment.  And this environment does not really exist.... unless Peter King has something to say about it.

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